Learn from mistakes on public housing: James Perry

Six years into New Orleans' post-Katrina makeover, New Orleanians have both some tough losses and laudable successes under our collective belt. It is my hope that the city's good and bad experiences gather in a collective brain trust from which we are all able to draw wisdom. Some of that wisdom protects us from the bumps and bruises acquired while redeveloping more than 90 percent of New Orleans' public housing.

G. Andrew Boyd/The Times-PicayuneThe Iberville housing development in downtown New Orleans is slated to be redeveloped

With more than $30 million in hand from the federal government, the Housing Authority of New Orleans now seeks to conclude New Orleans' public housing transformation with a near $600 million redevelopment of the historic Iberville public housing development. Iberville is essentially the only remaining traditional public housing in the city. I'd suggest that the lessons learned along the public housing redevelopment road may provide a guide for the Iberville redevelopment.

First, the process must include true public input from residents, advocates, stakeholders and anyone else who seeks to offer their voice. Other than the day the levees broke, the most painful and acrimonious day in our post-Katrina history was Dec. 20, 2007, the day the City Council voted to demolish New Orleans' four major public housing developments.

That day, the anger of those who attended the council meeting was steeped in frustration over the lack of a public vetting process that would have allowed real input. There was a sense that the major decisions about the fate of the Big Four were made well in advance and outside of the public domain.

As we look to the redevelopment of Iberville, we must ensure that meaningful public input is a constant. HANO, having already received $30 million for the redevelopment of Iberville, has yet to open a public dialogue. History dictates that it is imperative that the public input process start as soon as possible.

Second, our dialogues must be respectful of the families who live in public housing. Each of the previous debates was ripe with stereotypes portraying public housing residents as lazy, unemployed, drug abusing, criminals. Even well-informed pundits and policy makers argued that demolition of public housing would result in a near instantaneous drop in New Orleans' murder and crime rates.

This myth is easily proven false. In this very moment as New Orleans battles a historically high murder rate -- even after the demolition of more than 90 percent of the city's public housing.

The truth is, President Clinton led a major public housing reform effort nearly two decades ago and, as a result, all able-bodied public housing residents are required to work and are subject to eviction if arrested.

In fact, in New Orleans, families living in public housing are a valuable part of the work force. Stop at any French Quarter establishment with a sizable number of employees, and chances are you will run into someone who lives in Iberville or other nearby government subsidized housing.

Our tourism industry is able to keep a competitive edge by providing excellent services to guests while keeping costs low. This is owed to the fact that many employees are able to survive on low wages because they rely on low cost public housing.

Finally, we must keep a constant focus on the goal of government subsidized housing. That goal is to provide safe, decent shelter to families on the precipice of homelessness.

According to Unity for the Homeless, about 9,200 New Orleanians are homeless. In fact, despite New Orleans' population dropping by nearly a third, our homeless population has increased by about 70 percent since Katrina.

The undeniable result of the redesign of New Orleans public housing system has been a net loss of more than 10,000 physical units. HANO, while continuing the trend toward mixed-income housing, should work to ensure one for one replacement of affordable units lost in redevelopment.

I am confident that we can find a balance that provides safe, decent, affordable, housing consistent with New Orleans' needs while simultaneously redeveloping Iberville as a credit to our community. But key to that balance and our success is learning from both our past successes and failures.

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James H. Perry is executive director of the Greater New Orleans Fair Housing Action Center. He can be reached at director@gnofairhousing.org.